Wicked | Ambrose Spellman and Nicholas Scratch [2]

04 | yule lads

But then her glass of orange juice falls off of her desk for no reason. The girl jumps in surprise as the glass shatters into a million pieces, and orange juice gets all over her hardwood floors. She then hears a bunch of children laughing, and she can't help but roll her eyes.

Tricksters, she thinks, hastily looking at the doors that lead in and out of her room—her regular door, the bathroom door, and the closet door. "Whoever or whatever you are, I suggest you stop while you still can. I don't like being played."

She feels her pulse pick up as she makes her way to the bathroom door, pushing it open only to find nothing. She then moves to the closet door, and again, finds nothing. Just as the door to her closet clicks shut, she hears the sound of glass moving, and when she turns around, she nearly steps on a shard of glass. The girl lets out a cry of surprise, jerking her foot away right before she steps on it. And when she looks back at her closet door, the words we have your sister are carved into it.

"Oh, bloody hell," Selene's eyes widen in concern for her baby sister before she steps around the glass and rushes out of her room. She finds Hilda and Zelda in the hallway downstairs, freaked out by what just happened to them. And apparently, it was similar as to what happened to Selene.

Selene then hears her baby sister crying, but it's almost like a distant echo. She searches the west side of the house while Hilda and Zelda search the east side. She ends up searching her room, Sabrina's room, Ambrose's room, and several guest rooms before she hurries downstairs.

"The kitchen."

She decides to listen to the voice in her head, and she hurries to the kitchen. She finds Leticia in the oven, crying from the fact that the oven is preheating.

"Oh, my gosh," Selene whispers, patting her sister's back gently. "You're okay. I've got you."

"Selene!" Zelda and Hilda burst into the kitchen, their eyes as wide as saucers once they realize where Selene found Leticia.

"Somebody or something put her in the oven," Selene whispers, handing Leticia to Zelda.

Hilda then gasps in shock. "I was preheating it. She's fine. She's fine, though. But look."

She then points at the floor where some flour had fallen. There are children's footprints in the flour, and just as Selene's about to open her mouth to tell them what she thinks is in the house, Ambrose walks into the room looking like he'd seen a ghost. "Where have you been?"

"Tying down all the corpses in the embalming room, bolting all the hatches shut. We have an infestation. We have poltergeists."

One of the house's many doors then opens and slams shut and everybody exchanges worried glances. But Hilda's the first one to speak up. "What now?"

Ambrose and Selene look at each other before Ambrose picks a butcher knife off the counter and Selene pulls a dagger out of her back pocket, something she had picked up when she thought someone rather than something was in the house. The group walks to the front of the house only to find Sabrina. Her happy face falls once she sees everybody's spooked expressions. "What's going on?"

"Yule Lads decided to come visit us," Selene rolls her eyes, putting the dagger down. Ambrose puts his knife down beside it before the group heads to the living room. They then sit down and start to strategize.

"Yule Lads are impish spirits that come down from the mountains every midwinter to cause mischief in the ungaurded homes of witches," Zelda explains to Sabrina, who has no idea what Yule Lads are. "They must have gotten in when the Yule fire went out."

"Right, so we banish the buggers," Ambrose declares from his spot beside Selene.

"Not quite," Selene rubs the back of her neck gently. "Yule Lads aren't so easy to get rid of. We won't be able to get rid of them until their mother, Gryla, tells them to."

"Dare I ask?" Sabrina raises an eyebrow at Selene, Zelda, and Hilda, who look very unpleased about Gryla being bought up. "Who's Gryla?"

"A very dangerous witch," Zelda answers as Selene grimaces, being reminded of what her father did at the Feast of Feasts. "During a famine, she and another woman from her coven made a pact. They would eat their own children to survive."

"Seriously, what is it with witches and cannibalism?" Sabrina remarks in disgust.

"They cooked and devoured Gryla's son first, her only child, and then the other witch broke their pact," Zelda continues somberly. "Devastated, Gryla's spent the last thousand years trying to replace her lost babe. She's forever adding children, particularly orphans, to her so-called family."

"So, what do we do?" Sabrina questions.

"I was thinking do a little summoning spell, offer her something she can't refuse, and then make her take her Yule Lads with her," Selene explains before gently taking Ambrose's hand. "But you're gonna have to leave."

"Why is that?" Ambrose asks protectively, not wanting her to summon a powerful witch without him.

"Gryla despises men," Selene scrunches her nose. "So she eats them."

"What?" Ambrose's eyes widen as Zelda and Hilda sit back in their chairs, amused by their conversation.

"Well, Ambrose, I really don't want Gryla to eat you," Selene points out, squeezing his hand. "I kinda really like you, so-"

"You know what?" Ambrose nods at his girlfriend, not wanting to be eaten by a cannibal witch. "Maybe I should head to the Solstice party early."

"That's a good idea," Selene admits, pecking him on the lips before he flees the room to get ready. "I'll meet you there."

"We'll also have to hide Leticia while Gryla's here," Zelda sighs, looking down at Leticia lovingly. "Or she'll try to take the babe and add Letty to her retinue."

"I can take her," Sabrina offers, surprising Zelda and Selene. "She's family now, and you two have protected me all these years. It's the least I can do."

"Okay, then," Selene stands up to go gather her things so she can summon Gryla. "This should be fun."

UNEDITED